From: marcus AT bighorn DOT dr DOT lucent DOT com Subject: Hoax virus 11 Mar 1998 21:21:52 -0800 Message-ID: <199803111623.JAA18757.cygnus.gnu-win32@chorus.dr.lucent.com> To: earnie_boyd AT hotmail DOT com Cc: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Re: "WIN A HOLIDAY" Virus warning from ernie_boyd... >Subject: Fwd: Fw: Message re VIRUS received, quoted and forwarded as > directed Congratulations, you have just spread this "hoax virus". This type of virus has been around for a couple of years, first known as "GOOD TIMES". It is spread by well meaning victims forwarding it to everybody that they know, who then forward it again, etc. Fortunately, the only damage that it does is waste time to read and forward it, email bandwidth to mail it, and storage space to hold it in receiving inboxes. It should be pointed out that it is impossible to get a virus from reading a message as text. You would have to execute an attached binary, or open a WORD document with automatic macro execution enabled. Reading a text document, however, cannot possibly "erase everything on your hard drive." Education about what things can spread a virus and what cannot is the best defense against these hoax viruses. Please do not forward this virus to your friends, but perhaps educate them instead. marcus hall - For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".